Two good friends, one a client, lost their jobs this past week. The first, worked for a small business, the other for a large hotel-casino group.
Neither lost their job because of their competence or effectiveness. Both are solid citizens and model employees. Their sales and management skills, impeccable.
They lost their jobs because of elements not under their control. The first, we’ll that person Chris, worked for a facility that included neighborhood dinner house, video poker bard, and banquet ballroom.
Chris had been in charge of marketing the banquet business for about a year. Then, early one day, she received a text-message from the owner, indicating that the business would close, that morning. Chris confirmed in a phone call, and that was that.
The second, we’ll call that person Lynn, worked almost 20 years for ‘the company.’ Lynn was a victim of ‘job elimination’ or ‘restructuring’ or some version of these.
Bottom line, after some two decades, Lynn was unceremoniously let-go. Lynn’s high rank, and compensation level, were likely part of the decision making. Lynn was not the only person suffering this fate at ‘the company.’
I am confident that both Chris and Lynn will land on their feet, because they are competent, hard working individuals. However, this story is a cautionary tale.
As my parents would tell me, from time, to time. Life is not fair.
Indeed… If you are self-employed, you have your own set of instability. However, if you work for someone else, large company or small, you are subject to incompetence, whim, poor decisions, or some other rationalization.
Before it’s your head on the chopping block, I suggest you get your resume up-to-date, get your reference in hand, and show up at networking functions.
If you’re lucky, none of this will prove necessary. If you’re unlucky, you’ll thank me.
Blind optimism is incredibly poor strategy.
Work for the best; be prepared for the worst.
Andy Ebon
The Wedding Marketing Blog
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2 Pings to “If you’re not self-employed, READ THIS NOW!”
One Response to “If you’re not self-employed, READ THIS NOW!”
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1. Crystal Adair-Benning Says:
October 18th, 2008 at 3:47 pmOMG! What a reminder of me two years ago when I was unceremoniously let-go from my dream job because of company downsizing and restructuring. I landed firmly on my feet, thank goodness, because of my own personal strength, my family, friends and multitudes of connections and colleagues who supported “this new phase” of my life. Don’t look at losing a job as a bad thing… just let it be the change that drives you to do something better.
October 20th, 2008 at 8:28 am
[...] the Catering Sales Manager, their employment immediately becomes unstable. Depending on what company buys an existing property, any given job could be gone, tomorrow, six [...]
October 20th, 2008 at 8:37 am
[...] the Catering Sales Manager, their employment immediately becomes unstable. Depending on what company buys an existing property, any given job could be gone, tomorrow, six [...]